Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
Taliking Points: May 6 - 20, 2009
The USC U.S.-China Institute's weekly newsletter - news about U.S.-China relations and China-focused talks, conferences, performances, and screenings.
May 7, 2009
Talking Points
May 6 - 20, 2009
Last week, Talking Points noted that Chinese authorities, chastened by the costs of their slow and far from transparent response to the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, were moving in a highly public way to respond to the A/H1N1 flu (swine flu). News photos showed the screening of passengers on a Aeromexico flight to Shanghai and authorities canceled flights to and from Mexico. By the end of the week, Mexican nationals visiting China were quarantined in a number of cities. While one Mexican citizen in Hong Kong was found to have the flu, the others were quarantined without regard to whether or not they exhibited any symptoms or had been in contact with infected individuals. On Saturday, a group of Canadian students arrived in the Northeastern city of Changchun to study Mandarin, but were pulled off the plane ahead of others and put into quarantine. Both the Mexican and Canadian authorities lodged protests.
"We are especially worried about China, where Mexican citizens showing no signs at all of being ill, have been isolated, under unacceptable conditions."
Patricia Espinosa, Mexican foreign minister, May 2, 2009
"I think it's unfair that because we have been honest and transparent with the world some countries and places are taking repressive and discriminatory measures because of ignorance and disinformation.”
Felipe Calderon, Mexican president, May 4, 2009
The Chinese government responded that the actions were legal, appropriate, and necessary. Authorities argued the quarantines were not discriminatory and that Chinese nationals who had been in China were also quarantined. Further, China had offered Mexico $5 million in aid to help in coping with the epidemic. Nonetheless, feelings were badly bruised. To further show its concern for how its nationals are treated abroad, Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala went yesterday morning to the Mexico City airport to welcome home 136 people flown back to Mexico City from China.
Mexican tourists have been going to China in increasing numbers. Almost 49,000 visited in 2009. While the flight cancelations and quarantine will dampen this, it’s unlikely that Mexican – Chinese economic ties will be significantly affected. There are already trade tensions between Mexico and China. Mexico imports more than ten times what it sells to China and the country has frequently charged Chinese firms with “dumping” goods below their production cost in Mexico. These issues came up during Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s February visit to Mexico.
You can learn more about China’s relations with Mexico and the rest of Latin America in the new issue of US-China Today, due out this week. The issue includes an interactive map detailing trade ties. Online gaming, hip hop, and the children of migrants are among the other topics explored in this issue. Look for it at uschina.usc.edu.
*****
Almost a year has passed since a massive earthquake killed almost 90,000 in China’s Sichuan province. This evening, HBO offers a documentary on the quake and its aftermath. In “China’s Unnatural Disaster” filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill let rural Chinese describe their experiences. US-China previously reported on a film by Pan Jianlian, a Chinese filmmaker, on media coverage of the tragedy, and of one American group’s aid efforts. We’ll review some of what’s been done to rebuild lives and communities in Sichuan in next week’s Talking Points.
Finally, please be sure to visit the U.S.-China Institute website at china.usc.edu to watch the video of Elizabeth Economy’s remarkable overview of the environmental challenges produced by China’s remarkable rise. In addition to detailing the problems, she discusses the work of individuals, groups, and governments to address the crisis.
Thank you for passing Talking Points on to others. We always appreciate your comments. Please write to us at uschina@usc.edu.
Best wishes,
The USC U.S.-China Institute
Support the institute at: http://www.usc.edu/giving/.
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USC U.S. – China Institute
3535 S. Figueroa St. FIG 202 Los Angeles, CA 90089-1262 Tel: 213-821-4382 Fax: 213-821-2382
Email: uschina@usc.edu
Website: http://china.usc.edu
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October 20, 2024
October 20, 2024
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 3:00pm
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Thursday, November 7, 2024 - 4:00pm
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.